This Zoo Offers Iftar Together With Lion Feeding Hours, Dare To Try?

Al Ain Zoo, United Arab Emirates. (Wikimedia Commons / Vladimir Yaitskiy)

JAKARTA - Lions are known as one of the predators who are not disturbed when hungry. However, this does not prevent the zoo in the United Arab Emirates from presenting a Ramadan iftar program with the lions, at the same time the big cats eat.

It is a thrilling and unforgettable experience, when you can eat together with the lions, in a relatively close and uninterrupted distance. You can get this at Al Ain Zoo.

Held on the outskirts of the zoo's lion territory, you are only about 10 meters away from the lion who is eating his dinner at the same time.

This program is held for 12 people, with the entire dining area perfectly arranged, decorated with candlesticks and silver trays, and elegant tables that add to the perfect dining experience.

The food is beautifully presented and the service top-notch. Your mealtime chat is embellished with growls, grunts, roars and groans of the big cats hiding in the darkness, which blanket your table in the middle of a meal.

Lion at Al Ain Zoo. (Wikimedia Commons/Balaji)

For the menu, start with dates, nuts, dried fruits including apricots, raisins, figs, almonds, pistachios and walnuts. Then there are Ramadan juices like qamar al din, jallab and Vimto. Next, dip the roll from the bread basket into the lentil or harira soup.

Next, there are Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes with Beiruti hummus, mutabel beets, tabbouleh, fattoush, harra potatoes and stuffed grape leaves make up the former, as well as Punjabi samosas, fried kibbeh and cheese fatayer.

The next menu is the main course, of which there are seven types of dishes, consisting of mix grill, hammour in butter-lemon sauce, chicken biryani, veal harees, lamb thareed, tourlou tajin and turmeric rice.

To conclude your iftar meal, you will be served Umm Ali, fruit and a selection of Ramadan sweets, with Arabic coffee or mint tea.

You can experience this memorable experience at a relatively affordable price, 840 dirhams or around IDR 3,280,342 per person, including a sunset tour at Al Ain Safari with a specialist guide.

To be able to enjoy this unusual iftar service, you must be at least four of us and make an order 48 hours in advance. And, children under 12 years old are not yet allowed to join this program.